This week we're running a piece on how rises in the statutory minimum wage in Canada are impacting on the cleaning industry there and in recent weeks we've covered the same issue from the Australian and British perspectives too.

The publication this week of details of salaries of the top earners at the BBC (or rather those whose salaries actually show in the books) made me cross - not only because they are, in a lot of cases, unjustified, and because the jobs are those, I'm sure, many of us would love to do and could perhaps do well - but also because the BBC's coffers are filled by forced contributions of £75.25 annually by the registered blind; many of whom can't see the TV at all! Cleaner at National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage rates or BBC presenter at six-figure salary (sometimes more) with all the trappings and the opportunity to do pantomime at Christmas?

There's no contest, is there? And look at the lifestyles enjoyed by many of the world's footballers, which are being reported on so widely at the moment. Footballers used to earn too little in a profession that forced early retirement, but with celebrity culture and the opportunities to earn money that this brings, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Footballers' salaries have become so high that in many cases, cleaners can no longer afford to support their local team by attending games, since the ticket prices have been raised as high as possible to help pay the inflated salaries.

Life isn't fair, is it? Cleaners most of the world over should be paid more money and they certainly deserve to be paid more, bearing in mind what they have to do. But how do we manage it? The public are always slating the business of 'contracting out', saying that standards have dropped and prices have risen because of it. Facilities don't want to/feel they can't afford to pay more for cleaning, but if the cleaners don't earn enough, well - in my neck of the woods anyway - we, the taxpayers, have to top up their salaries, which isn't fair either. The contractors are saying they can't cover the increases because their contract prices are being squeezed by clients, as there's always a competitor offering to do it cheaper.